/*
 * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
 * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
 * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
 * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
 * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
 * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 * 
 */

package org.apache.jmeter.testelement.property;

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.apache.jmeter.testelement.TestElement;

public interface JMeterProperty extends Serializable, Cloneable, Comparable {
	/**
	 * Returns whether the property is a running version.
	 * 
	 * @return boolean
	 */
	public boolean isRunningVersion();

	/**
	 * The name of the property. Typically this should match the name that keys
	 * the property's location in the test elements Map.
	 * 
	 * @return String
	 */
	public String getName();

	/**
	 * Set the property name.
	 * 
	 * @param name
	 */
	public void setName(String name);

	/**
	 * Make the property a running version or turn it off as the running
	 * version. A property that is made a running version will preserve the
	 * current state in such a way that it is retrievable by a future call to
	 * 'recoverRunningVersion()'. Additionally, a property that is a running
	 * version will resolve all functions prior to returning it's property
	 * value. A non-running version property will return functions as their
	 * uncompiled string representation.
	 * 
	 * @param runningVersion
	 */
	public void setRunningVersion(boolean runningVersion);

	/**
	 * Tell the property to revert to the state at the time
	 * setRunningVersion(true) was called.
	 */
	public void recoverRunningVersion(TestElement owner);

	/**
	 * Take the given property object and merge it's value with the current
	 * property object. For most property types, this will simply be ignored.
	 * But for collection properties and test element properties, more complex
	 * behavior is required.
	 * 
	 * @param prop
	 */
	public void mergeIn(JMeterProperty prop);

	public int getIntValue();

	public long getLongValue();

	public double getDoubleValue();

	public float getFloatValue();

	public boolean getBooleanValue();

	public String getStringValue();

	public Object getObjectValue();

	public void setObjectValue(Object value);

	public Object clone();
}
